


sometimes love hurts but it doesn't have to

by orphan_account



Category: The Flash
Genre: Barry's in an abusive relationship, Len helps him get out, M/M, future smut, past abusive relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-03
Updated: 2015-12-14
Packaged: 2018-05-04 16:30:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5340863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account





	1. Chapter 1

“Barry you’re late,” Captain West called.

Len looked over from the dead body he was currently kneeled over to watch Barry the CSI run over to the captain, short of breath and throwing out the excuse, “Sorry, Joe... I mean Captain, I woke up late and then the bus was late and well... I’m always late aren’t I?”

The younger man tried a smile but Joe just raised an eyebrow.

“And that?” He pointed to something on Barry’s face that Len couldn’t see. Barry lowered his head and mumbled something that Len didn’t catch. Joe just shook his head and clapped the kid on the shoulder.

“Whatever you say. Just - go talk to Snart, he has all the details. Talk to him, then get to work.”

Barry nodded and glanced over at Len who just waved him over.

“Single gunshot wound to the head. We found the pistol down there next to the dumpster. Doesn’t look like there was a struggle of any kind,” Len said, pointing further down the alley they were in.

Barry nodded and bent down to pick something up off the ground. Len was going to remind him that he wasn’t wearing gloves but he didn’t bother. The kid usually did everything by the book. He’s probably having an off day.

“There was a struggle. Not an obvious one. This is his fingernail,” Barry said, holding the broken fingernail up and pointing to the body on the ground. “I’m guessing it got torn off when he tried to grab the guy. I’ll see if there is anything under the remaining nails.”

He went into his bag to grab the tools and realized he wasn’t wearing his gloves. He dropped the broken nail into an evidence bag and put his gloves on. Len watched the man work. He’s worked with Barry a couple of times. Seen him around the precinct There was some friendly, meaningless conversation here and there. He never learned anything from the kid. Everything he knew he got from his partner Eddie.

Len liked working with Eddie. Sometimes the guy talked too much but Len let it pass because he was a good guy. Eddie told Len about how Barry’s mom was murdered and Barry’s dad was accused of it. Barry never liked talking about it because he never believed his dad did it and it always ended in an argument. The kid was late everywhere he went no matter how early he started out. He loved science and he was a dorky but sweet kid. Eddie liked him, he could tell. Len thinks it has more to do with the fact that Barry stuck up for him when Eddie first started dating Iris, Joe’s daughter.

Len watched as Barry stuck his tongue out, looking a little confused. “This. This bullet, it's not from a pistol. You guys said you found one, right?"

Len nodded and Barry sighed.

“We’re looking for some sort of... sniper rifle, if this is the round I’m thinking of. He wasn’t shot by the guy he fought with. He was gunned down,” Barry said confidently, looking up from the body to look Len in the face.

Len noticed the bruise on the side of Barry’s face and now knew what Joe had asked him about. He got up and dusted his pants off.

“Alright, kid, get it to ballistics and see what they have to say. We might be looking for a partner or another dead body. Whoever this guy fought with, we have to find him either way.

Barry nodded again and Len was going to just walk away but he stopped. “Hey kid what happened to your face?”

Barry looked up, surprised. “Um.. Me and Iris? You know Jo- the Captain’s daughter? We were at a bar last night, some guy grabbed her ass and I told him to back off and I got hit. No big deal.” Barry smiled when he finished but Len noticed it didn’t reach his eyes. He just nodded and left towards his car where Eddie was waiting with a coffee.

“What did Barry say,” he asked, handing Len the coffee.

Len filled him in as they drove back to the station.

When they were almost there Len had to ask. “So what’d you do last night?”

“Oh me and Iris just hung out all night, watched movies. She wasn’t feeling well so we stayed in. what about you,” Eddie asked excitedly. Len doesn’t usually ask personal questions.

“Wait, Iris was with you last night?”

“Yeah. Why?” Eddie looked at him curiously.   
Len pulled into the station and parked the car. He shut it off and shook his head.  
“Sorry, nothing just...something Barry said earlier.”

Ignoring Eddie’s babbling, he got out of the car and headed into the station. Why had Barry lied?

Len walked into the station, passed everyone by and made his way to his desk. People thought he didn't know they called him “Detective Cold”. He did, it's just that he never really minded. He didn’t want to know about their personal life he didn’t want to know what they had for dinner or about their kid's soccer game. He wanted to get to work, get his job done and go home. The other detectives realized this about the second week he was there.

He was also a hard ass. He had gotten suspended more than once for hitting a suspect in the face for being an ass. Hence the name Cold.

Usually he didn’t want to know about people’s personal life but something was nagging Len about why Barry had lied about the bruise on his face.

He looked up when a file got slapped on his desk.

“Look into this guy for me will you?”

Len looked up to see Joe standing there. Him and Eddie were really the only ones Len bothered to have an actual conversation with.

“Sure. Who is he,” Len asked, flipping the file open to see the picture of some guy.

“Something's just not right about the guy,” Joe said and Len raised an eyebrow.

“Okay not what I asked.”

“Barry’s been dating the kid for a couple months and something just isn’t right.”

Len looked at the name. 

_Tony Woodward_

He looked back at Joe. “You’re stalking your son’s boyfriend?”

Joe glared at him. “Barry’s been...different. He’s not himself and I want to know if this guy has anything to do with it,” Joe answered before walking away.

Len sighed. He was a good detective. A great detective actually and here he was stalking his captain’s son's boyfriend. He really needed to stop doing favors for people.

He searched for only a couple minutes before he found something. Woodward had been arrested but not charged with domestic violence, not once but twice. He also went away for a year for robbing a convenience store.

“Sure know how to pick 'em Barry,” Len mumbled to himself.

“What?”

Len jumped at the sudden presence of Barry. He turned his monitor off before Barry could see what he was looking at.

“Nothing kid, what do you got?”

“Nothing yet, not really - I got some DNA from under the fingernails, I’m testing it now. There was also some hair on the victim's jacket. It was from a girl. It’s probably nothing but I’m running it anyway. You got anything,” he asked Len with a smile and Len shook his head.

"I got preoccupied with something else; I’ll get back to you if I find anything."

Barry nodded and turned to walk away when Len noticed the boy had stopped and his whole body stiffened. Len looked up to see what Barry was looking at and saw Tony Woodward standing in the doorway holding a brown paper bag. The man looked angry for a second before plastering a smile on his face and walking towards Barry. Len noticed Barry put the same fake smile on that Tony had.

"Hey Tony what are you doing here," Barry asked. Tony looked between him and Len and then leaned forward to kiss Barry on the cheek. Len didn't miss the flinch that shook Barry’s body.

“You forgot your lunch. I thought I’d bring it to you. Who’s this,” Tony said, tipping his head towards Len.

Barry looked over at Len with a look that was similar to a deer in headlights.

“Uh. This is detective, Snart. We’re just working a case together. I needed to fill him in on some things I found.”

Len nodded at Barry’s words and Tony hummed.

“So you want to go up to your lab? Eat some lunch,” Tony asked, handing the lunch over to Barry.

“Well… I um, actually have a lot of work to do.”

Tony frowned and Barry looked at his feet.

“Come on Barry it's just a sandwich. I’m sure your partner won’t mind,” Tony said, looking over at Len.

Barry cleared his throat and nodded, “Yeah yeah, okay.” He grabbed Tony’s hand and pulled him towards the doorway so they could head upstairs to Barry’s lab.

Len had a really sick feeling in his stomach and decided to follow. He waited a few more seconds before actually getting up so they didn’t realize he was following. He stopped outside the partially closed door of the lab.

“So are you screwing him?” Len heard Tony’s voice angry and low.

“No! No of course not, I told you we’re just working a case.” Barry sounded absolutely terrified.

“Do not lie to me Barry I saw the way you looked at him.”

Len heard a thud and decided to peek in. What he saw made him see red. Tony had Barry against the wall by his throat and Barry looked ghost white. Barry saw him outside the door and shook his head as best he could, pleading with Len with his eyes not to do anything. Not to get into it.

It took everything Len had not to burst through the door but he didn’t want Barry to get hurt any more than he already was.

“Tony seriously, I’m not screwing him, it’s only you. I promise,” Barry said and Len knew he has said it before.

Tony stared at him for a moment before releasing him. He pointed a finger in Barry’s face.

"If I find out you’re lying, Barry, so help me God," he threatened, before turning towards the door. Len ducked behind the corner and waited until he heard Tony going down the steps. He pushed the lab door open to see Barry sitting at his desk with his head in his hands, crying.

"What the hell, kid?"


	2. Chapter 2

Barry looked up from his hands and sighed. “Don’t worry about it. It was nothing, okay?”

“It didn’t look like nothing, Barry. He had you by the throat! Does this happen often? Is he hitting you?”

Barry stood up quickly, leveling his gaze on Len. “Why do you care? You think I don’t know what everyone calls you? ‘Detective Cold’. You don’t care about anyone; except, maybe yourself and your sister. So tell me, Cold; why do you suddenly care about the dorky CSI? Hm?”

Len flinched at the way Barry said ‘Cold’; almost as if the very name left a bad taste in Barry’s mouth. “Barry. If he’s hitting you, you need to do something about it. He could seriously hurt you!”

“Again, why do you _care_?” Barry pressed, his tone rising.

“Because I don’t like seeing good people being slapped around, okay. It’s not right.”

Barry raised an eyebrow. “You don’t even know me. You don’t know what kind of person I am.”

“You think so?” Len rolled his eyes and a tiny scoff rumbled in the back of his throat. You think Joe and Eddie don’t talk about you like you hang the sun in the sky or something? Because they do. I know that you’re a good guy, Barry. I know that you helped Eddie with Iris even though it killed you. I know that your life hasn’t been easy. I know that you don’t deserve to be slapped around!”

Barry deflated. He didn’t have the energy to fight with anyone right now, let alone if he really wanted to. He sank back down into his chair with a sigh. “He was nice when it started.”

“They usually always are,” Len interjected.

After a long pause, Barry began to speak without looking at Len. “When he first hit me, he apologized right away. He cooked me dinner, said it wouldn’t happen again.”

Len nodded. He didn’t want to say anything because he could tell the kid wanted to get this off his chest. He needed to tell someone about it. The kid was right, he really didn’t care that much about people; but for some reason he wanted to know this kid and he needed to know what was going on.

Barry continued, “It started happening again and again. His apologies turned into blame. ‘Barry, you know, if you weren’t flirting with that guy I wouldn’t have hit you.’ ‘Why do you make me do this?’”

Barry’s eyes closed and he crossed his arms. His voice came out softer. “I started to believe it. I started to believe the whole thing was my fault, and I started to just not talk when I was out. I thought: maybe then he couldn’t accuse me of flirting. But it didn’t work. It just… didn’t work and I couldn’t leave. I can’t leave.” Barry’s voice rose to a cry on the last part. He leaned forward and rested his head on his desk.

Len didn’t know what to do. He wasn’t a person one would come to for consoling. At a loss, he settled on giving Barry an awkward pat on his back. Barry gave out a shaky laugh and lifted his head enough so he could turn at look at him.

“You really aren’t very good at this.”

Len let out a chuckle. “I know, but I’m trying. Do you guys share a place?”

Barry wiped his eyes and shook his head, sitting up straighter in his chair. “No, no. But he has a key to my place.”

Len nodded his head. “Okay, then you can’t go home tonight, Barry; not the way he left here today. He’ll hurt you. Can you stay at Joe’s?”

 “No,” Barry answered with a shake of the head. “I don’t want to explain to him why I can’t go home.”

Len was silent for a moment, letting ideas flit through his mind for a solution to Barry’s dilemma. An idea struck him. “Tell him you forgot to pay your light bill. He’ll believe it – you’re late doing just about everything; it’s not that hard to accept.”

Barry laughed again and nodded his head. “Yeah, yeah, that’ll work. But I still need to go home and pick up some stuff.”

Len gestured at him to stand up. “Come on, I’ll take you.”

“Right now? But I’m working.”

“You can’t work like this, kid. Come back tomorrow. Start fresh.” Len grabbed Barry’s coat off the hook and handed it to him. Barry gathered his stuff and they made their way downstairs.

“I’ve got to tell Joe I’m headed home to get some things and taking the day off; I’ll meet you outside, okay?” Barry asked as he made his way to Joe’s office. Len nodded and made his way to the elevator.

Barry let Joe know and Joe told him it was fine if he stayed at his place until his lights were turned back on. Barry hated lying to Joe but he didn’t want to explain to Joe what was happening.

Len was waiting in the car right outside the doors when Barry made it outside. He hopped in and Len told him to put his seat belt on. The ride was quiet unti they arrived at Barry’s house.

Len raised his eyebrow at Barry as he peered at Barry’s home. “You can afford a house?”

“It’s kind of split. The upstairs is mine. Other people live downstairs.”

Len nodded and went to take off his seat belt, presumably to follow Barry inside. Barry stopped him with a hand on his arm.

“You don’t have to come in.”

“What if he’s inside?”

“He’s not. He’s at work right now,” Barry insisted. Len took his word for it and let Barry head inside alone. 

It wasn’t long before Barry was returning to the car with his things. He dropped the bags in the back and after refastening his seat belt, Len took off.

“Thanks,” Barry said once they pulled up outside Joe’s, reaching for his bags.

This time it was Len who stopped Barry with a hand on his arm. He didn’t let Barry leave until he had put Len’s number in his phone.

“Just in case,” Len insisted before pulling away.

Barry sighed and made his way into Joe’s house. He didn’t know why Detective Snart was being so nice to him, but he was grateful that someone finally knew. He was relieved.

* * *

 

After dropping off Barry, Len went back to station and worked on his current case. Between work and squashing the unhelpful to Barry but very appealing urge to go find Tony at his work and beat him to a pulp, Len was ready to go home after the long day he had. When he finally looked at the clock it read 6 o’clock and he was finally able to cut out from work.

He knew that Joe didn’t go home until nine and he had half a mind to go sit with Barry until Joe got home, but he knew that would look strange to Joe. Instead, he decided to head home. He was halfway there when his phone rang. He usually doesn’t answer the phone when he was driving, but he name flashing on the screen made him lunge to grab it as quickly as possible.

“Barry?” Len answered. “Barry, is everything alright?  _Barry_!” There wasn’t any answer until there was a crash, almost like glass breaking, followed by Barry’s voice.

“Tony, please. Look—just, just go home.”

“Barry, I’m not leaving here without you,” came another voice, Tony, over the line. Barry yelped once and then silence. The line went dead.

Len’s chest tightened as his grip tightened on his phone. He whipped his car into an illegal and did a U-turn in the middle of the road and sped in the opposite direction. He dialed a number into his phone and waited for the person to pick up.

“Mick,” he urged on without preamble, “listen, you have to get Lisa and meet me at this address.” He rattled off Joe’s address and hung up before Mick could ask him any questions. Mick was his best friend and a fire fighter. He was also a beast of a guy. Lisa, his sister, was a boxer and a damned good one at that.

He pressed his foot on the gas and sped as much as he could without breaking the speeding limit too much toward Joe’s, but Mick and Lisa still beat him there. When Len jumped out of his car and started running towards Joe’s house Lisa and Mick followed.

“Len, what’s going on?” Lisa asked worriedly. Before Len could answer there was another crash that came from inside the house. Lisa looked towards the house, her expression full of shock. Len ran to the door and tried to turn the knob but it was locked. Mick pushed him to the side and slammed his boot into the door, successfully crashing it open.

What Len saw almost made him pull his gun.

Broken glass was strewn all over the floor, looking like someone had broken the window in the living room. A table was knocked over and there were flowers, water, and a broken vase on the floor next to—

Barry.

Barry was lying on the floor, bloody and unconscious. Tony was knelt next to him on the floor with a fist full of Barry’s shirt; the other fist of bloody knuckles raised in the air. The sound of the door opening must have distracted him, and with one look toward Len, Tony dropped Barry and rose to his feet. He stepped closer to the three and Mick matched his stance.

Lisa quickly ran past Tony to get to Barry. Knelt down next to him, she checked his pulse and blew out a sigh. “He’s got a pulse but it’s weak, Len,” she informed him.

“We’re taking Barry and we’re walking out of here,” Len demanded and Tony laughed mirthlessly.

“He’s not going anywhere with you.”

“Well, we aren’t leaving him here with you,” Lisa countered standing up and stepping over Barry like a barrier. Tony turned towards her. 

“Yeah? And what are you going to do about it?”

Lisa swung, faster than a blink; her fist connected expertly with the side of his face. He stumbled, shocked at the force the small woman had in her, but he recovered quickly with a lucky return hit to Lisa’s mouth.

Lisa fell to the ground, narrowly missing falling on Barry. She tried to get back up but Len’s voice stopped her.

“Lisa, stay with Barry.” Len stepped forward, Mick right at his back. “We won’t be going down that easy. You really want to fight him?” Len asked, hooking his thumb over his shoulder at Mick crackling his knuckles on cue.

Tony sneered but it was weak. He wouldn’t fight back; not today. “Whatever, take him.”

“Stay away from him.” Len stepped forward one step and then another. “I mean it. Come near him again and I will ruin everything you love,” Len threatened.

Mick added, “And I know how to set whole houses on fire and make it look like an accident.” He smiled and the sight made Tony’s face go pale. He quickly tried to cover it up with a smile.

“Whatever. The kid isn’t worth it. He was a bad fuck, anyway.” It was he last remark before he began to leave. He kicked over another end table as he left.

The trio stayed still. Len was the first to move when it was clear Tony was gone, and he made beeline to Barry’s side. “Barry, hey—come on, kid, wake up.” Len patted Barry’s cheek gently to rouse him awake.

Barry’s eyelids fluttered but that's the only thing the kid could manage.

“Mick, call an ambulance. Now,” commanded Len without looking up. The sound of Mick mumbling into the phone was the only indication Len had that Mick had followed his orders. After a few moments with no change from Barry, Len looked over at Lisa and asked her to watch him. He had a call to make.

The phone rang twice before it was picked up. “Snart? What’s up? Aren’t you off work?”

“Joe… It’s Barry…”


End file.
